Move a topic branch onto a different base commit with git rebase --onto
domain: git-scm.com · 7 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Identify three commit-ish values: the new base, the old base, and the branch you are transplanting.
Run `git rebase --onto <newbase> <oldbase> <branch>` — Git replays every commit in <branch> that is NOT an ancestor of <oldbase> on top of <newbase>.
Example: `git rebase --onto master topicA topicB` re-bases topicB onto master, dropping the topicA commits it previously depended on.
To remove a range of commits entirely, use `--onto <newbase> <rangeStart>~1 <rangeStart>` with a commit-ish that excludes them.
To keep the original base commit as-is while still picking up new upstream work, use `--keep-base` instead of `--onto` (it sets the start to the merge base of upstream and branch).
Resolve any conflicts that arise with `git add` + `git rebase --continue`, or `git rebase --abort` to cancel.
Official docs: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-rebase
Known gotchas
`--onto` and the upstream can be ANY commit-ish (branch, tag, SHA, or `A...B` which means the merge base of A and B when exactly one exists).
With `--onto`, only commits reachable from <branch> but not from <oldbase> are replayed; everything else is discarded from the rewritten branch.
`--keep-base` implies `--reapply-cherry-picks`, so commits already present upstream are re-applied rather than skipped.
Always verify with `git log` afterward that the intended commits were transplanted and nothing was silently dropped.
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